Rose Daughter

"It is the heart of this place, and it is dying," says the Beast. And it is true; the center of the Beast's palace, the glittering glasshouse that brings Beauty both comfort and delight in her strange new environment, is filled with leafless brown rosebushes. But deep within this enchanted world, new life, at once subtle and strong, is about to awaken. Twenty years ago Robin McKinley enthralled readers with the power of Beauty. Now this extraordinarily gifted novelist retells the story of Beauty and the Beast again--but in a totally new way, with fresh perspective, ingenuity, and mature insight. In Rose Daughter she has written her finest and most deeply felt work, a compelling, richly imagined, and haunting exploration of the transformative power of love.

Opinion

From the critics

Community Activity

Comment

I liked this one a lot, but not as much as her first re-telling. Rose Daughter was almost too layered and complicated. Perhaps this was because I was reading the eBook, though. I think I'll come back to this one later and see if re-reading it makes it better. However, it still enveloped me in a rich, fantastical, fairy-tale world that I was reluctant to leave. The writing and descriptions were lush and beautiful, evoking emotion well throughout. Very well-written, just slightly confusing in parts. Still recommended, though.

Every re-teller of folk tales has two challenges: bringing something new to something very old, and bringing to life archetypal characters. Ms. McKinley succeeds, but also wanders far from the main story. Beauty spends more time communing with various creatures than with the Beast. The writing is sometimes magical, and sometimes a slog.

Wow, this writing is just beautiful. I read this a very long time ago and just reread it the past week. Robin McKinley's language and style is incredible. I felt like crying while reading the book, but not from sadness, just from the beauty of it all.

Robin McKinley wrote this one nearly 20 years after her first adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, called Beauty: A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast. Her first version was incredible as well, and written before the Disney movie ever came out, which makes it even better. I first fell in love with the Disney version, and then read the two adaptations of Robin McKinley's, and I love them all. I would recommend reading "Beauty" first, and then this one. I just finished them both in a row in the past two weeks and they are both so wonderful.

I strongly recommend that you read them in order - but not one after the other. Both Beauty and Rose Daughter are Beauty and the Beast - but this author does it justice twice again! Well worth the read!

Quotes

“She was ashamed. She would not--she would not--be frightened of him: he was what he was, and he had made a promise he would keep.”

crystal_dark
Nov 04, 2011

“Roses are for love. Not forget-me-not, honeysuckle, silly sweethearts' love but the love that makes you and keeps you whole, love that gets you through the worst your life'll give you and that pours out of you when you're give the best instead.”